Here I am in Edinburgh, Scotland. It's almost 10am, just chillin' in our hostel lounge drinking free tea and watching some peeps play pool. How wonderful my life is? Now that i'm so "experienced" I can't belive how much I love hostels, I really am going to miss them. Everyone is just so friendly and we all automoatically have so much in common, it's wonderful. As I sit here in the fresh sun of the morning, I am so thankful. Yesterday was a beautifully sunny day, and every local we talked to mentioned at least once that we picked the right day to come since this sunshine is pretty rare. How does this happen almost every trip?!?!?!? I love sunshine so much:)

The sunset on the train to Edinburgh

I arrived with my friend Jenna by train at 8:30pm Friday night. The train ride from Grantham was a little over 3 hours including train switches, so not bad at all! It was great, especially with my laptop (this is the first trip I have had it on, it's pretty nice!) becuase I could watch movies and get WIFI on the train. I don't really know what we were thinking when we booked a train that late, becuase once we found our hostel from the train station, we just felt like crashing. The hostel was called High Street Hostel and it is one of the top three in Edinburgh. It was super cute, they always look right out of a movie. WIth lots of stuff hanging on the wall and hippie paintings. But usually they're pretty clean, organized and have lots of convienences. We were lucky enough to get a two person room on the top floor. It was a shoebox, but so cute! Stone walls and a bunk bed. We watched a movie on the little twin bunk, and slept probably the most we have since being here, it was great.

Our baby room in the hostel the first night

Since the hostel is one of the best, it was only available for the one night, so we had a second hostel booked for the second night. It's also one of the top hostels, called Castle Rock hostel. So in the morning at about 9am we walked the Royal Mile (the main street in Edinburgh-absolutley amazing!) to our hostel, it was very close and easy to find. It was even cooler! A huge lounge and murals everywhere, fireplace etc. It's hard to explain without being here...but it's great. We couldnt' check in until 2pm, but they let you leave your luggage in a room, and I could put my laptop behind the desk for safety. After we check in and everything, we walked around a bit and found a farmers market a little ways down the street. After a bit, we came back to the hostel to meet a free walking tour at 10:30am. It turned out to be a super long tour but it was great! They talked about lots of interesting stuff, like how much the scots hate the english (i'm not considered english right? ha), how the term "shit-faced" came from people stumbling drunk on the streets and getting literal crap dumped on them from peoples windows at certain times each night, and lots more...Once we were done with that at about 4, we walked to Arthurs Seat. Edinburgh is built on what's called a 'crag and tail'. It's basically like a tall mountain cliff, and then a long hilly mass that's behind it. So the Edinburgh castle is built on one of the crags for protection, and then the main city drag called "old town" (where the royal mile is) is built on the 'tail'. There is another one of these a little walk from the Royal Mile, and it's called Aruthurs seat. It's a great place becuase you can see the entire city and the coast. It was a little hike, but it was gorgeous! And it was such a pretty day, there were lots of people and it was just wonderful. We sat up there for a bit and looked pensive:) After the climb down, we headed back to the Royal Mile and down to our hostel. We had previously picked out a pub that looked good to eat there, so once we checked into our new room (girls dorm of 12 people, not too bad...), we ran to feed the hunger growls. It was a short walk, and a very cute little pub. For students, two meals for £8 (so about $6 each) and drinks for £2. I got fish n' chips, which was AMAZING, and a cider. It was a fantastic, filling meal. After that we hung out in the hostel, had some tea in the lounge etc and relaxed. The Market in Edinburgh

Second hostel

Downtown...the buildings were so beautiful and the streets were some of the coolest I've seen yet

On the tour, she showed us the "trick steps", which were a type of midevil security system. There was a staircase, and then one step that was extra tall so the person entering who didn't know it was there would trip on it and make lots of noise

Greyfriars grave...which was a real person that had a Disney movie based off of him. He had a dog that, when he died, laid on his grave for years and years until the dog finally died. Below is the dog Bobbys grave.

Beautiful day

Aurthur's seat

View from Aurthur's Seat

Being pensive...

Sunday was..EASTER! We weren't really sure what to expect, but it turns out Edinburgh does NOT shut down for easter like a city would in the states, everything was open and as usual. First, we checked out of our room at 9am, but we were still allowed to keep all our crap in the luggage room, and hang out as long as we wanted. I had searched for a non-denominatinal church that we could go to for an Easter service, and found one that started at 11am, so we had some time to burn before that. We just sat around in the lobby, which was always bumpin, had a few cups and tea and hung out. We eventually found the church (we knew the general location, and apaprently had passed it literally three times on the main street whilst searching for it...ha). It was pretty similar to any church service I've been too, a tad more boreing but that could have just been the message:). The pastor who started the service was actually American, which I was secretly bummed about since we came to hear some Scottish! But the main message was given by a Scott, so I was content! After church we headed back to the hostel again where a cookout was going on. The hostels in Edinburgh are full of young people that are basically just livng there for as long as they feel like it. A lot of people I talked to said that they had come here just for the weekend, and just never left. Truly living out of a backpack, and basically had stories that seem like they would come from a movie...world travelers living one paycheck at a time and meeting people along the way. How much courage would that take! Talking to them makes me just want to be brave and do something crazy like move to Scotland, but then I remember that these people are possibly so different from me in certain ways. This amazing carefree lifestyle they live may be possible, becuase they dont' have the amazing family I do, or they don't crave learning and going to school like me...So even though it seems like they have the ultimate adventure, I know that this whole experience is a content amount of adventure for, becuase I have so many amazing things waiting for me at home:).
Saw this on our way to church ha

Happy Easter Scotland!

Where JK wrote Harry Potter!!!!!

Yeah, that's me in front of it, WITH my HP book:)

BUT...anyway...the burgers were amazing, and it was so cute to just sit on this deck and chat with people (the sunshine didn't hurt either...for the SECOND day in a row! when the locals told us the first day that we should be thankful because it wouldn't be like this for awhile...WRONG!:):):). Next we checked out a free museum, which was very cool, huge oil paintings, so amazing...then we went to a coffee shop to read and drink some warm goodness...we sat outside, until it got a little cloudy. Then we stopped in some shops, went back to the hostel, hung out in the lounge, got subway for dinner, went to the train, three hours back to Grantham...and TADA! We were home again!


It was a great last trip before the big one in...hmm...TEN DAYS! ITALY HERE I COME! yay:)


Signing off for now,
with appreciation for life,
and excitment to return back to the real of it.

weekly life

This week has been some of the most beautiful weather, and I am SO freaking thankful. Every time I see the sun shinning down, as I walk to this beautiful castle that I call home, my tummy flutters. I'm sure some others are sick of it, because I get extremely obnoxious and gitty about sun. AHHH I just have SUCH bad spring fever...I guess some of the non-northerners probably don't appreciate that feeling as much as us Minnesotans, that's probably part of it:) Bottom line; it's been wonderful weather, and it makes it bitter sweet since I am getting so excited to leave this place I have come to love so much.

Last week was a wonderful one...On Monday night, March 30th, we had a fashion show in the Bistro, which was just a fun little excuse to hang out down there and do something different for a change. The cutest girl named Emily is like the most fashionable person I've ever met, and she raided some of our closets, picking out an outfit for us to wear in the show. It was fun.

Getting ready for the runway

Top three!

The models

On Wednesday was our play performance that actually went really well! We weren't expecting it to be successful, so we were pleasantly surprised when it all came together in the end.

Thursday, I skipped classes (rebel I know!) to go to London. One of my bestest buddies Celeste was in London for a few days and I met up with her (she's studying abroad in Germany until August). It worked perfect since last weekend was my only one left where I was staying in London, and it happened to be the time she was coming here! So I was very thankful to see someone I actually know:) It was a great day, and I was sad to leave that night for my train at about 9pm. I was super lucky since the metro (typical...) was out and my train was about half an hour late...good thing I had left lots of time to get to Kings Cross...I made my train there with 7 minutes to spare! Once back in Grantham at about 11pm, I was lucky enough to have a friend waiting to pick me up there, and then we drove to meet some other people to go out on the town! So it was a very busy day, but an AMAZING day too:)

Another day of tourism in London!

We found a pretty tree outside their hostel

She's so great:)

Out in town after London

Friday we had a make up day of classes, and then went out to Grantham to hit the clubs at night. Then on Saturday, we had our Costume Ball. It's a huge Harlaxton tradition, and most people stay for the weekend for it. I was Sandy from Grease, my friend Stephen was Danny, and it was such a fun costume. At one point, the DJ played this mix of Grease songs and we basically were on stage dancing in front of everyone....fun, but I felt like I was up there for like 10 minutes. It was also a date auction, which I was nominated to do. So we had to walk a runway, and then a silent auctiont took place to raise money for an organization called MIND.

Sandy and Danny!

Those to be auctioned, after the catwalk

Some lovely costumes

Sunday was the most gorgeous day EVER!!!!!! It was probably only in the 60's, but that was enough for us to whip out our shorts and soak up the rays. I brought my computer and blanky out to sit in our yard (which technically isn't allowed, but the 'do not touch grass' sign was far away from us so I would just play the blonde card if we got yelled at:)) and eventually there were tons of us out there doing homework, painting (some on paper...I may have gotten bored and painted my whole leg....) and chilling with music. It was so pleasant, and fed my craving for summer:)

Good thing you can't see the sign that says stay off the grass...

We started off painting on paper...but somehow we ended up painting skin?

Monday 6 April, my Meet-A-Family dad took us out to play Snooker (like pool, but different...) at the Grantham snooker club. I'm awful...I think the Bobbers need to teach me a thing or two...:)

The rest of this week will be great too, we're all just trying to spend lots of time together before we have to go. We have a meet a family reception, which I will be singing at with the choir. We'll be going out a lot this week and spending time in the bistro---yeah dance parties! Oh how I'll miss them...Then on Friday I leave for Edinbourgh, Scotland. I am excited because I hear great things about it, but at the same time, I wouldn't mind just staying here. I never anticipated being so burned out from traveling...it sucks! I'm also burning through money quite fast, despite how cheap I am when it comes to luxuries. But I know I will enjoy my time, and I'm desperately trying not to wish away my last few days here:)

A night in the Bistro

Signing off, excited to come home, but loving it here:)

I think the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas is bigger...

Hello!!! SOOOO the long weekend of March 25th-29th I spent in PARIS, FRANCE!!!! EEEK, so exciting:) It can only be described as fantastic, that is a fact. We took a train from Grantham to Kings Cross station London, and then the Eurostar to Paris. The Eurostar was a just like a normal train, but my ears popped a lot. Once there (it took about three hours), we had to take the metro (all forty something of us, luggage and all...tourists ya think?) to our hotel. It was pretty much just like the tube in London, except more homeless people I'd say, and it smelled like pee. We got to our hotel and checked in, and it was about 8:30. My friend Abby and I decided to just explore the area around our hotel a little bit. It wasn't very impressive honestly, and some guy came up to us and mumbled in French and told us to follow him, "it's no problem, come with me, no problem". We said no and walked away...but I'm still very curious what he was saying...interesting people in Paris! Though that wasn't the last time we were approached, I generally felt safe where we were. As long as your smart, it's easy to not get taken advantage of. I think the most interesting thing that we were told to me aware of is gypsy children. They're kids that are trained to look needy and then they steal your wallet. So sad...

Thursday was our first full day in Paris. We started off with breakfast at the hotel, which was wonderful! I haven't eaten so much bread, in I don't even know how long. OH and the croissants were SO good! I snagged some of the baguettes to take with for lunch and a snack too. Abby and I were going to explore on our own, but a few more people joined in. I've learned that I definitely travel best in small groups. The day was full of a lot of walking. To get to some places we took the metro. Abby and I split a pack of Carnets. Which is 10 metro passes. That lasted us the first to days perfectly. That was about 6euro for each of us (about 9 dollars). We started out at the Arc De Triomphe, which was very cool! I heard that the view from the top is even better than the Eiffel Tower, but we didn't go up. A lot of people visiting Paris get the Museum pass which is like 32 euro, but I didn't because I knew i would be entertained enough without going into places (some may think that's lame, but I don't regret it at all, I was thoroughly entertained:)). We stopped at the Eiffel Tower of course...and I shouldn't' even admit to this...but i think it's funny so I will...I thought it was pretty ugly actually. And a little anticlimactic (however, seeing it at night was so beautiful, that it suppressed all my negative feelings of the structure during the day!), but I'm not really into the big touristy things like that, so that's probably part of it. There were so many freaking people trying to sell crap, I wanted to punch them all in the face by the end of the day. they're just annoying...and they gypsy women that try and tell you how sucky their life is, and then they pickpocket you while you're pitying them. It's a very interesting city. When I see people like that, I'm really intrigued by what they're really like. I wonder if their nice people that are really desperate, or if they really suck that much to do that...hmmm...Life's unanswerable questions. We also saw the Louvre, and Notre Dame and some other stuff along the way. By about 4 we were SO tired. We sat in Notre Dame to take a little break, and ended up sitting there for like half an hour. Eventually we made our way back to the room. Abby and I decided to take a little nappy poo and then meet up for dinner at 6. We went to a supermarket down the street and got bread, meat, cheese and grapes. It was seriously one of the best meals of my life....SO GOOD! Yum...I also saved some of mine for the next night as well. That's the best way to do dinner while traveling without a doubt. We planned on going out for some cafe or something...but somehow we ended up staying the room for the night. Which was needed, since we were so tired from the days activities. Overall the first day was pretty good, a little anticlimactic...but the next few days made up for the fully. They were amazing!

Arc de Triomphe

Hmm, what's that?

Eating our crepes

Friday morning we had breakfast again, then Abby and I headed to the metro, and then to the train to go to Versailles. It's a rich suburb of Paris, took about half an hour to get there, and is home to the Chateau de Versailles (where Marie Antionette lived etc...). It was pretty neat, and we actually paid to go in! The rooms were gorgeous just like any other palace I've been in, but the murals were breathtaking! So amazing! And the Hall of Mirrors was so cool. It was kind of a crappy windy day, but we still walked around the gardens for quite a bit of time. The statues outside were covered because it's still a cold season for them (they should come to MN if this is cold...ha) which I was bitter about:) Next we went to a little side street shop for a hot dog baguette thing that they have everywhere here. It was very yummy. Once back from Versailles at about 3, we planned to head to Monmarte in the North of France. When we were on the metro to get there, it took a little longer then usual to start going. Then every once and awhile an announcement would come on, and a few people would get off...but of course we didn't understand any of it. I figured we might as well stay on until everyone gets off, then we know it's for sure not going anywhere. I think we waited about half an hour, it finally moved one stop, and then a worker actually told us to get off. Well, that line that just shut down was our way home AND way to Monmarte, so we asked a worker what to do. They sent us on another line that would get us about a ten minute walk from Monmarte. We got there OK, but once we exited the station and got on the street, we glanced at each other and just laughed. We were pretty much in the ghetto of France. I definitely saw a coke deal go down and there were people EVERYWHERE. This was one of the only times I truly thought I was going to get my bag stolen. I held on for dear life while we passed through the huge crowds and these guys lining the street tried to sell random crap like sunglasses that they had just bought in the store they were standing in front of. It was bizarre. I got some super cute postcards though:) It was a straight shot at some point Abby said we should see it to the right. Then I looked right and was SO pleasantly surprised! All I really knew about this place was that there was a basilica, artists like to hang out there, and that it's Abby's favorite place in France from when she traveled there a few years ago. When I looked down a street there was a beautiful grassy hill with an AMAZINGly gorgeous white church on the top. Blue skies just made it that much more gorgeous. We swung right and there was a little street with all kinds of cute touristy shops and crepe stands. I was already in love. We got a Sucre crepe and headed up the stairs to the church. On each side there was a group of guys with bracelets, and I guess I didn't really notice. As we started up the stairs they got closer and closer and then Abby mumbled "OH, don't let them grab your wrist". They try to grab your wrist and tie a cheap string bracelet they made on it and then charge you for it (or swipe your wallet as you take it out to pay). I tell you what, if they tried to do that, I would not be happy). We survived the sales pitch, and Abby explained to me that they did that to her when she was here and her dad was really pissed. We decided that we should leave before dark, so we only stayed about an hour, but decided we would surely come back because we loved it. We found a different line home, so it was far less sketchy on the way back. We ate some more supermarket dinner once back at the hotel, and then met up with a group of people hang out. It was a great day.

The beauty of Versailles

Hall of Mirrors

The gardens

Abby trying to sneak a peak at the covered statues

"Stay of the grass" we think the sign said...but then again we don't speak the language so it doesn't apply:)

First visit to Sacre Coeur, Monmarte

Some artists at Monmarte

After fro'in my hair

Saturday, we planned to go back to Monmarte right away with two other girls. We got a day pass for the metro which was super cheap (only 3.20 euros) and we were very excited. We spent the morning there exploring and souvenir shopping (not that I bought much, but it was really entertaining to check out all the little shops). We walked to the infamous Moulin Rouge and took the touristy pictures there. Then we took the metro to the Cimetiere du Pere Lanchaise, which is where Chopin and Jim Morrison are buried (along with thousands of other people...but those are the ones we took pictures of ha). It wasn't really one of my priorities to see the graveyard, but it turned out to be one of my favorite adventures! It was so interesting and different! You can see the pictures below, and I don't know if it's a typical French graveyard or what, but it just seemed really different. After that we hopped on the metro back to the hotel. It was fun how familiar we got with the metro...it was so easy to use by the time we left Paris. I feel like I get so connected and attached to these cities that we go to, and then I have to leave so soon. It's kind of depressing...but I love it:) We burned an hour in our rooms relaxing a bit, and then went to a part of Paris called Little Athens. Abby wanted to go to a Greek restaurant, so I went with her. It was the funniest eating experience I've ever had. Every restaurant there were guys standing at the door trying to get people to come in and eat, and the first one we stopped at he convinced us. 3 courses for 10euro...so not too bad. But it was just funny, I can't even explain it. And we would watch as more people got convinced to come in, and we would look at each other and laugh. It was like everyone was thinking the same thing when they walked in...and we were all connected by the hilarity of it. Great times ha. Then we went back to the hotel, met a group, got some wine, and went to the Eiffel Tower. We just hung out in front of it and watched it sparkle (which it does every hour for ten minutes, and it's beautiful!)

Monmarte day 2!

The shops of Monmarte

Moulin Rouge

Pretty shop...if I hadn't literally any euros left, I probs would have broken the bank in here

The cemetery

CHOPIN! Is he famous or something?

wonderful:)

Sparkle tower, SPARKLE!

Sunday we got to sleep in, and left at about noon for the Eurostar back to England.
It was such a good weekend, and I am very thankful for having the opportunity to go;)

Love to all!